Getting the most from your corporate wellness programing has to address the culture of your organization.

1. The Shift is ON! –
Create a cultural transition to wellness and improve your company’s
bottom line
By Dr. Ken Kaufman
There is little doubt that employee wellness One of the shortfalls that I have noticed when
programming is no longer just a luxury or perk, but consulting with many companies is that they often
is quickly becoming a necessity. To control the times implement wellness initiatives that are
spiraling, out-of-control costs associated with disjointed and have no continuity. For example, one
providing health care to employees, it stands to organization created incentives for their employees
reason that it is absolutely essential that to take a health risk assessment offered through their
organizations attract and retain healthy, fit insurance carrier. In this instance, they paid their
employees and executives. As many organizations employees $250.00 to take the assessment. As you can
grapple with the different wellness programming guess, they had great participation with over 80
options available, it is important to begin with the percent of the employees participating. After hearing
end in mind. To realize the best return on your this, I asked the HR person, “What follow-up support
wellness investment it is necessary to shift the culture did you provide your employees after taking the
of your organization away from one of sickness and HRA?” The disappointing answer was, “nothing”.
low productivity to one toward wellness and record Unless the employees that took the assessment and,
breaking performance. on their own, made some changes to improve their
health, that $250.00 per employee was wasted.
It has been shown in numerous studies that
employee wellness programs have become the most
“What follow-up support did you
cost effective strategy to insulate organizations from
provide your employees after taking the
the escalating health care costs that continue to effect
HRA?”
profitability. With the uncertainties of the recent
health care legislation looming, one thing is for sure - --- “Nothing.”
companies that fail to incorporate employee wellness
initiatives will face tremendous challenges to their
profitability, productivity and workforce retention. This is a common scenario that I have seen over and
over again. One program is offered that has no solid
Benefits of a strategically designed progression to the next step. Many companies will
employee wellness program: offer a diet program with no mention of exercise.
Others will offer a HRA with no support for those
Increased Profitability identified to be at risk of diabetes or heart problems.
Increased Employee Productivity Still others will implement a walking program only
Decreased Health Claims Cost to have employees smoking while they are walking.
Decreased Workers’ Comp Cost
Decreased Disability Claim Cost Getting the Bang for the Buck
Improved Employee Performance
Decreased Stress Levels Several factors need to be considered to get the
Improved Employee Retention greatest ROI from an employee wellness initiative.
First, even before starting a program, careful
consideration needs to be taken in what programs

2. your employees actually want. Starting a benefits for their employees. If that goal is to be highly
focus group with representative employees from productive, healthy and full of energy and
several departments will go a long way in employee enthusiasm, then a paradigm shift needs to take
participation in any program you start. Studies show place.
that the more employee contribution you get in the
design of a program, the greater the acceptance you
will ultimately experience. Second, the program
needs to be strategically designed. One piece of the
program should naturally progress to the next step,
building momentum as you go. Scheduling a Components of a Sound
biometric screening should be done before a health
risk assessment, simply because some of the
Employee Wellness Program
questions on an HSA require blood pressure,
• Health Education
cholesterol and blood glucose numbers. Holding a
health fair before a biometric screening and the HSA o Seminars/Workshops
makes no sense. If you have representatives from the o Health Fairs/Screenings
local diabetes prevention program available, many • Employee Engagement
employees may not even know they are at risk. o Benefits Focus Group
o Tracking Participation
Next, it’s important to set up a sound incentive
• Support
program that awards credits and or cash for
participation each component of the program. For
o On-site Policies
example, cash can be earned by completing designed o Incentives
wellness activities. Those activities can include biking o Employee Input
to work, participation with a community weight loss • Behavioral Change
program, taking diabetes prevention classes, taking a o Tobacco Use
health and fitness screening, nutritional classes, etc. o Obesity
Reward credits can be awarded to reduce an o Diabetes
employee’s deductable, co-insurance or increase their
o Stress Management
health savings account. This can include completing
o Physical Fitness
a health risk assessment, receiving a preventative
o Nutrition
adult physical, annual preventative gynecological
exam, routine eye exam or annual preventative o Substance Abuse
dental exam. o Depression
Its one thing to implement all these programs,
incentives and educational classes, but to generate
the maximum ROI, there needs to be a shift in the
entire culture of the organization. For anyone that
has attempted to loose weight and start exercising,
it’s very difficult when you come to work to have
several of your co-workers eating doughnuts for
breakfast and ordering pizza for lunch in the cubicle
next to you. A solid corporate wide policy transition
needs to take place that encourages healthier habits
and makes these habits the norm rather than the
exception. From the CEO to the secretarial pool to the
maintenance staff, the communication and
environment should reflect the goals of the company